Undernews is the online report of the Progressive Review, edited by Sam Smith, who has covered Washington under nine presidents and edited alternative journals since 1964. The Review is an online journal and archive of alternative news. It has been on the web since 1995. See main page for full contents

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

READER COMMENTS

This is a very reasonable possibility. McCain does not project image of health or competence in his recent appearances. When confronted by questions, he has difficulty responding intelligently. I look for a move to draft Jeb Bush as a candidate. - David

Food prices may be going up, but at least people in the US have food. . . unlike the 100 million people that may starve to death, because US whiners have diverted million of tons of corn and other grain to ethanol production to feed their SUVs instead.

The only way to have reasonably decent politicians is to keep them humble, make constant fun of them and don't let them get away with anything. It is by ignoring such rules that we have ended up with the likes of George Bush and Bill Clinton.

I suspect that today's politicians do not reject irony and satire. They are rather completely blind to incongruity. This is the result of that most pernicious of defense mechanisms of the narcissist -- denial. The inability to perceive intent is contagious, and instantaneously spreads to the politico's staff and ardent supporters as well.

As proof, I offer the acceptance ofSteven Colbert by the Bush vetters prior to the presentation of his skit to the White House Correspondents Association. Also, the endless use of stories from "The Onion" as though they were something other than satire.Though I must note that these failures of interpretation seem to afflict the so called right, more than the so called left. - m

This is another example of how the rich are more and more disconnected from reality. If business is doing well, then the economy is in great shape and it doesn't matter how many people can't pay their bills.

Are they really too stupid to realize that if all their customers have no money, then sooner or later, they will have no income? There may be a lot of negative things that can be said about Henry Ford and his legacy but this was an area where he knew what he was doing. The whole purpose of the firestorm he created by paying his workers a then unheard of $10 a day was for the sole purpose of making it possible for them to buy the cars they were building.

There are certainly ethical and legal issues about what the Congress did. And most most importantly, Constitutional issues which make it clear that every member who voted for this law has violated their oath of office. But, the ex post facto legal theory is a protection against a government punishing someone for committing a behavior that was legal at the time. It is a protection for the individual, and its purpose does not apply to removingculpability.Focus on some of the many other issues that have a basis in law, heritage and the Constitution.

The proper legal way for the President to have gotten what he wanted was for the telecoms to be convicted of their crimes and then pardoned.

They will ditch the rightwing cult when the left wing cult shows some promise of actually working. For instance there is no debate on credit card rates because limiting rates will limit the amount of money that people can borrow. These are the very people you seem to want to help. Limiting mortgage lending will limit home ownership by poor people. The real state of economic reporting is that the government people are in bed with the money people on right and left. Obama and the developers for instance. Not that the Republicans will say anything because they're completely in the bag.

Yawn. The Greens self-destructed four years ago thanks to that thieving huckster David Cobb. This is just the death rattle now. Nader supporters here in California (including many of the more principled Greens) are already making plans to form a new party next year and ditch these losers.

1 Comments:

Re:"at least people in the US have food." Is it really possible even in USA to be so completely isolated and ignorant to not know there are tens of thousands of hungry children whom (like their parents) deserve no help or sympathy because helping them would be a pain in the ass, a drain on disposable income and they don't look enough like Shirley Temple.

Your editor has been a
musician for many decades. He started the first band his Quaker
school ever had and played drums with bands up until 1980 when
he switched to stride piano. He had his own band until the mid-1990s
and has played with the New Sunshine Jazz Band, Hill City Jazz
Band, Not So Modern Jazz Band and the Phoenix Jazz Band.

APEX BLUESSam
playing with the Phoenix Jazz Band at the Central Ohio Jazz festival
in 1990. Joining the band is George James on sax. James, then
84, had been a member of the Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller
orchestras and hadappeared on some 60 records.More
notes on James